Real Housewives Daughters Confess: “Yep! My Mom Is a Real Housewife”

People on reality TV are not, shall we say, the most relatable folks on the planet. They choose to share their personal lives with the world, for one thing. And yet what if you didn’t necessarily want to be on TV but kinda had no choice? That’s the situation many of the daughters (and sons) in the Bravo Real Housewives franchise find themselves in. Their mothers signed up, and boom—they’re living in front of the cameras. What’s that like? Just in time for Mother’s Day, Glamour gathered five daughters—Lauren Manzo, Tierra Fuller, Victoria de Lesseps, Pandora Sabo, and Briana Culberson—and asked. You won’t want to miss this episode!

“I did get caught up in the fame.”
—Lauren Manzo, RH New Jersey

The close-knit Manzo clan is the heart and soul of the New Jersey series, and headstrong matriarch Caroline, 50, has become a fan favorite for her tough attitude and her level-headed parenting. But for Caroline’s sensitive daughter Lauren, 24, reality TV was tough on her body-image issues.

MANZO: When we first began the show, my biggest fear was viewers noticing my weight. I knew I was heavy, and I knew people were going to say something, but I did everything I could to hide it and act like I was confident. When the show started to become more popular, I had these younger girls say to me on Twitter and Facebook, “I look up to you; I love the fact that you’re not a size 2.” I said to myself, You know what? All these other women are struggling. Let’s put this on the show.

My mom and I have always been open about my weight. I’ll say stuff like, “Oh my God, my stomach is so big today!” We’ve learned to joke about it. When she said on the show, “I’m not going to tell Lauren she looks perfect when she needs to lose a few pounds,” that didn’t bother me. What upset me is when people wrote and said, “Your own mother thinks you’re disgusting.” Not because they’re calling me fat but because they’re going after my mom.

I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t get caught up in being on TV for a little bit. I said to my boyfriend, Vito, a while ago, “I found a ring that I want. Go buy it, and we’ll get married on TV.” And then I said to myself, That’s not what I want right now. It doesn’t make sense to get married. I need to become a woman on my own. And I don’t think I could do that right now with a ring on my finger.

Lisa Vanderpump, 51,The Real Housewives of Beverly Hillsstar and restaurateur, drives a Bentley, lives in a mansion, and counts billionaires like Richard Branson among her friends. So it’s surprising that her 26-year-old daughter, Pandora Sabo, is so low-key. When Bravo asked the website editor, who also waits tables at Beverly Hills’ Villa Blanca, if they could tape her August 2011 wedding to Jason Sabo, she had hesitations about doing so.

SABO: I’m a more private person than my mother is. So when Jason proposed, we had to think about how we were going to do this wedding. My mother’s life is on television, but mine really isn’t. I didn’t mind that the planning was on TV, because, to be honest, it’s quite nice to have a record of all that. Who else gets to relive picking out their invitations or their bachelorette party?

When it came to the actual day, my mother said, “However you want to do it is OK.” I didn’t let Bravo film any of the wedding. I had a regular videographer like many people do. I edited the footage, then chose what I wouldn’t mind people seeing, and we gave eight minutes of it to Bravo to use.

To this day, when I work at Villa Blanca, people are like, “I loved your wedding!” I’m like, “Oh, hi, how are you? Thank you.” I feel like my life is filled with a bunch of one-sided conversations. Everybody knows everything about me, and I know nothing about anybody else.

I wouldn’t sign up for a reality show myself. I didn’t even get through watching the whole episode of the season-two reunion. It’s hard to see someone you love being attacked. I’ve had urges to fight my mother’s battles for her, but she doesn’t like me to. She can handle herself very well.

• • •

“I look at all this as family therapy.”
—Briana Culberson, RH Orange County

Briana Culberson, 25, daughter of Vicki Gunvalson, 50, ofThe Real Housewives of Orange County, has for six years allowed fans into her life’s most intimate moments. Viewers have seen her high school prom—and the recent divorce of her parents.

CULBERSON: The first season, we were kind of shocked because you would google our names and we’d come up. That was huge. At first we were like, “Why are we so important?” Then people would say, “Briana looks like this” or “Vicki’s fat,” and we’d all be crying about it. Since the first season we haven’t looked at any blogs. I try not to read the press or dig around and see what everyone’s opinion is of us.

I’ve seen every episode that’s aired. It’s hard to watch them. Nobody likes to hear their own voice, and it’s weird to see yourself on TV. It’s really tough to see the family things replayed, like my parents’ split. I’d experienced it six or eight months before, then had to relive it on TV, and that’s when it becomes public. People are approaching me, saying, “I can’t believe your parents are getting divorced!” And it reopens the wound. But it’s kind of like therapy. Most of the time our family’s not very open about our feelings with one another, so we see each family member on TV talk about their reaction to the divorce. It’s nice because you can sit down and say, “Oh, Mike [Briana’s 26-year-old brother], I didn’t know you felt that way.” It allows us to recognize what each other is going through.

I’m not looking to make my own fame off this show. It’s just not me. I’m an E.R. nurse, and that’s my priority. I don’t want people to look at me differently. I’m just Briana the nurse.

Sometimes at work, I’ll be changing a diaper or putting in an IV, and a family member at the bedside will be like, “You’re that girl!” And I’ll say, “Yes, but this is my real job.” You’ve got to put things into perspective.

• • •

“I don’t love to be in front of the camera.”
—Victoria de Lesseps, RH New York City

Though Countess LuAnn de Lesseps, 47, tries to stay above the fray ofThe Real Housewives of New York City—the etiquette expert even has a book called Class With the Countess—she often gets sucked in. Her daughter, Victoria, a sophisticated 17-year-old high school senior, is equally eager to avoid the drama. But despite her unassuming personality, being on TV has affected her life in many ways, from boarding school to boys.

DE LESSEPS: I was 12 when my mom told me about doing the show. I’m not a person who loves to be in front of the camera all the time. But my mom said to us, “I understand if you and your brother don’t want to do this, but you know, it would mean a lot to me, blah, blah.” And so we both agreed to do it.

At my school, everyone’s really down-to-earth. But before, when I was at boarding school, there were some instances when I thought teachers were harder on me because of the show. My roommate would ask for extra help and I would ask for extra help, and I would never get it. The teacher would make comments to me—nothing bad—but I’d notice it. I can feel when there’s a weird tension.

People ask me, “Has being on TV changed how people treat you? Are people nice to you for the wrong reasons?” In a way, it has made it easier for me to see who’s really my friend. This guy friend of mine, we kissed once, and he said, “I could introduce you to my friends and tell them you’re from the show.” I was like, “That’s the first thing you’d tell your friends about me?” I’ve never had any boy luck from the show. Maybe guys are just intimidated.

• • •

“My mom is my role model.”—Tierra Fuller, RH Atlanta

In season three ofThe Real Housewives of Atlanta, shocked fans were introduced to Tierra Fuller, 26, the eldest daughter of
cast member Sheree Whitfield. (Whitfield, 42, who has two younger children, Kairo and Kaleigh, with her ex-husband, Bob, reportedly had Fuller when she was 15.) Though Fuller was initially reluctant to appear on air, she overcame her hesitation with a vengeance.

FULLER: I find myself getting very angry when I watch the show. Then I’ll talk to my mom, and she’s like, “You know, you can’t get too emotional about it.” The whole Marlo thing was hard for me. [In season four, Whitfield and cast mate Marlo Hampton engaged in a screaming match over a snubbed dinner invitation.] That fight was really intense. You want to protect your family, and that’s my mom! If I’m watching and something goes down, I’ll send her a text, like, “Wow, why did you two start arguing? Did that really happen?” And then she’ll give me the background.

I was only on the show a few times, but the city of Atlanta isn’t that big, so I get a lot of recognition—especially the
first season that I was on. Anytime I went out, people would come up to me like, “Oh my God, you’re Shereé’s daughter!” One time I went back to Nashville for the TSU homecoming, and this older lady came up to me and was like, “Can I get your autograph?” People still give autographs? I thought that was weird.

A woman approached me about being on another reality show. It was going to be about people my age being spoiled, always getting what they want. I guess they didn’t end up selling the pilot, but I was interested. My boyfriend, Damon, and I spoke about doing our own reality show. I think it’s not a bad idea. I like Bethenny Ever After and Khloé and Lamar. My mom is doing her thing; I’m trying to get her to make her own workout DVD or her own juicer. A lot of opportunities come out of reality shows, and my mom is my role model.